Emergency room errors result in millions of misdiagnoses each year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Overall, roughly 6% of all people who go to the emergency room will be misdiagnosed (diagnoses for an incorrect health condition) or receive a late diagnosis (correct diagnosis that is delayed due to mistakes). All those misdiagnoses result in millions of injuries and more than 370,000 permanent disabilities or patient deaths per year. With everything tallied, each emergency room across the country causes about 1,400 misdiagnoses each year, or nearly 4 a day.
The five most commonly misdiagnosed medical conditions in ERs are:
- Stroke: Often confused with seizures, migraines, vertigo, or psychiatric disorders when diagnosed in an emergency room.
- Myocardial infarction: More commonly called a heart attack. Often confused with acid reflux or muscle-related chest pain.
- Aortic aneurysm/dissection: Unsafe enlargement of the aorta. Often confused with heartburn, chest pain, or low blood pressure.
- Spinal cord compression/injury: Often confused with muscular back aches or gastrointestinal distress.
- Venous thromboembolism: Blockage of a vein. Often confused with less severe conditions like vasculitis or peripheral artery disease.
Preventing Emergency Room Misdiagnoses
Nearly 40% of all serious misdiagnosis-related injuries relate to misdiagnoses involving one of the five conditions listed above. With this in mind, it could be argued that the risk of emergency room misdiagnoses could be dropped significantly if more focus was put on recognizing the symptoms of those same five health conditions. Medical institutions and hospital groups should devise training and re-training programs for emergency room personnel who may benefit from learning more about strokes, heart attacks, and other commonly misdiagnosed health conditions.
Misdiagnoses Outside the Emergency Room
Of course, emergency rooms are not the only medical settings in which misdiagnoses frequently occur. A few years ago, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine publication garnered international attention for concluding that medical malpractice was the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., with many of those deaths occurring due to misdiagnoses.
Outside of the emergency room, misdiagnoses often involve:
- Cancer
- Infections
- Autoimmune diseases
- Brain hemorrhages
- Heart-related conditions
Such misdiagnoses can happen in all sorts of medical settings, too, such as hospitals, primary care facilities, and even nursing homes. Surgical errors are also consistent sources of patient injuries, some of which relate to diagnosis errors that prompted the use of an incorrect form of surgery.
What to Do After a Misdiagnosis
If you or a loved one are ever harmed by a misdiagnosis, you should be sure to seek any additional medical treatment you might require to address the injuries caused by the error. You may want to check with your healthcare group to see if there is another medical professional or facility that can treat you this time. Be sure to get copies of all your medical records related to the incident and any consequent harm or health complications.
Depending on how the misdiagnosis occurred, you may be able to use legal action to demand justice and compensation from the medical provider that hurt you. Medical malpractice claims are often restricted by brief statutes of limitations, though, so you’ll want to act quickly. Reach out to an attorney in your area as soon as possible to see if you have the grounds to file a claim and what you should do next if you do.
Law Offices of Michael Barszcz, M.D., J.D. proudly represents injured patients in Orlando and across Florida. Founding Attorney Michael Barszcz, M.D., J.D. applies his medical background and legal knowledge to each case he accepts. Overall, he has personally secured more than $120 million on behalf of his clients through successful verdicts and settlements. See if he can help you with your case, too, by calling (407) 305-6088 today and requesting a FREE case evaluation.